Lord Gnomes Xl 2003
25-May 1st XI vs Swinbrook Cc
 


                               
Type of Match     Spring Tour                        
                               
                               
Ref/Round     2003/05                        
                               
                               
Venue     Away                        
                               
                               
Ground     Swinbrook                        
                               
                               
Toss Won By     Lord Gnomes Xl                        
      who batted first                        
                               
                               
Result     Won - 83 runs                        
                               
                               
      Lord Gnomes Xl   226 a/o in 39.4 ov                  
                               
      Name   Score How Out 6s 4s              
  1 M Cannon W 17 Bowled   3              
  2 M Ferney   5 Bowled                  
  3 J Butterworth   105 Caught 1 11              
  4 M Feltham   40 Run Out 5 1              
  5 N Harris   0 Caught                  
  6 J Dunthorne C 13 Bowled   3              
  7 A Finneran   9 Bowled 1                
  8 F Ramsahoye   1 Caught                  
  9 C Gill   7 Caught   1              
  10 P Gillman   6 Bowled 1                
  11 M Ferney   1*                    
    I Cannon                        
                               
      Extras (12B, 5LB, 3W, 2NB)   22                    
                               
      Fall of Wickets Wkt   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  
      Score   15 37 132 140 180 199 207 218 219 226  
      Outgoing Batsman   2 1 4 5 6 7 8 3 9 10  
                               
                               
      Swinbrook Cc   143 a/o in 36.3 ov                  
                               
      Extras (4B, 2LB, 7W)   13                    
                               
      Bowling/Fielding                        
                               
      Name   Ov Mdn Runs Wkts W N B Ct Wk Ct St Byes R O
    M Cannon W                 1 4  
    M Ferney               1        
    J Butterworth               1        
    M Feltham               2        
    N Harris                        
    J Dunthorne C                      
    A Finneran   8 3 18 1              
    F Ramsahoye   8 1 46 1 2            
    C Gill   7.3 2 23 6 3            
    P Gillman   3 0 27 0     1        
    M Ferney   7 1 18 1 1            
    I Cannon   3 1 5 1 1            
                               
                               

Gnome renewed its friendship with its longest-standing opponents in an enjoyable match in the familiar bucolic setting. There were a few showers but otherwise the rain held off. Although Gnome won by a comfortable margin in the end, there was a phase during the Swinbrook reply when the outcome was very much in doubt. The personal highlight of the match was achieved by Chris Gill, still smarting from his critics' onslaught the previous day, who reached a long-cherished landmark after 314 matches and 19 years of trying.

Gnome lost the toss and were asked to bat in a 40-over 12-a-side match, starting at 2.30pm. Matt Cannon and guest Max Fernie put on 10 for the first wicket before Max departed bowled. Matt was second out with a brisk
17, leaving Gnome on 37-2 off 6 overs.

The first of the two key partnerships in the match now developed, with Butts partnering Mark Feltham in a stand of 95 scored in 16 overs. Mark opened his innings with a six and batted confidently until he misjudged a call and was run out. John meanwhile was scoring fluently, with his cutting particularly effective. It was a superb innings, assertive, well-paced, expressive but not unduly risky. He was dropped at deep mid-wicket when in the 70s but otherwise did not give a chance. His ton came in 34 overs and he was 8th out, caught for 105, when Gnome were on 218.

The importance of Butts' innings is shown by the fact that after Mark's departure, only skipper John Dunthorne - still looking for his first win of the season - got into double figures with 13. Anton, clearly on a downer
after the Blewbury high, hit one six in his total of 9. Chris Gill rattled along to a quick 7 and Pete - surprisingly placed below Chris in the order, given all that had happened at Blewbury - hit Richie Parker for 6 and was
bowled next ball. Gnome were all out for 226 in 39.4 overs. (Although Issey was listed at 12th she decided not to bat.)

The centrepiece of the Swinbrook reply was the remarkable innings by Simon Huxtable, batting number three and coming to the wicket in the first over, after Trevor Weedon had been run out without scoring. Anton was the only
bowler who managed to restrain Simon, who had several profitable overs against Fenton and then clobbered 19 off Pete's 3rd over. Enter Chris Gill, who went for 8 and 7 off his first two overs. With partners
Bellenger (11) and Richie Parker (13), Simon took Swinbrook to 124 for 3 off 23 overs, leaving a very gettable target of 97 off 17 - an ask of 5.7. Then Simon, who had just hit a big six into the spectators' enclosure, tried to repeat the shot off Chris. But Pete, running forward from the mid-wicket boundary, took a tumbling catch.

The Swinbrook innings subsided from that point, with the main point of interest focussing on whether Chris could take 5 wickets for the first time in his Gnome career. After five overs he was on 4 for 23, then had Rob
Lane caught to give him the magic five, to his manifest and unbounded joy. He capped the performance by bowling Rob's son Sam in his last over, finishing with a career best of 6-23 off 7.3, which is also the best Gnome
bowling of the season to date. At the other end Issey, bowling with impressive speed and accuracy, and her trade-mark long follow-through, had 1-5 off 3. Anton, Fenton and guest Mike Fearney had one each. The
Swinbrook 12 were all out for 143, making Gnome victors by 83, with 5.3 overs in hand. Mark Feltham had two catches and Matt another stumping to add to the one at Blewbury.

No one felt more relieved than John Dunthorne at ending his losing run as skipper, and no one felt more vindicated than Chris Gill after his hammering over his Blewbury innings, already dubbed the worst-judged innings in Gnome history, ever. Now that Chris can bask in the long-awaited glory of his match-winning six wickets, one presumes he will never ask to bat up the order again.

Talking point of the match: what should be the criteria for the catch of the season?

In a purely academic spirit, I would like to suggest some criteria along these lines. The bonus factor is shown in the right-hand column. The example, selected purely at random, is based on the catch that dismissed Simon Huxtable:

BF

Batsman's score when dismissed: 87 87
Difference between his score and next highest: 64 64
Likelihood of him winning match if not dismissed: 9/10 45
Distance from batsman at wicket to catcher in yards 75 75
Height of ball at zenith of flight in feet 75 75
Distance run to take catch in yards 10 10
Proximity in yards of home crowd 10 10
Style marks for quality of dive 6/10 30
Bonus points for necessity of dive 7/10 35
Age of catcher 61 61
Was catcher oldest fielder? Yes 10
Did the previous day's captain suggest he take catcher's place on boundary in previous over? Yes 50
Did catcher decline this offer? Yes 50

This gives a total points score of 602.

Let the debate commence!